The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-11-24
PROHIBITION IN ATLANTA.
HASIT BEEN SUCCESS OR FAIL.
UssE: READ BOTH SIDES.

Henry ". Grady, of the Atlanta Consti
tuition. Says il Is IL Success--CoI. How
ell, of the Constitution, Denies 1t.
The Prohibition campaign is now wa
ging in Atlanta. The people are stirred up
Sam Jones is there and he is fighting t.
continue the law. He draws big crowds
Those who say it has been failure are or
| ganizing with the hope of defeating it
One of the novel happenings in the can
| paign is the position of the editors of tn,
| Atlanta Constitution. Henry Grady, tn,
| inimitabe and eloquent Georgian, who il
! the biggest editor Iii the South, is strOns
advocate of Prohibition. Col. Evan ?
lowell. OF the same paper, a gentleman O
| fine sense and high order of ability, is az
UncOnprOmislng advocate of the repeal O.
Prohibition. The Constitution is owned b,
Evan ?. Howell, W. A. Hemphill, Samue
NJ. lnman and Henry W. Grady The frs
named is a strong Anti -Prohibitonist
while the other three are pronounced ad
vocates of the other side While Mr.. Ora
dy is addressing meeting of Prohibition
ifH'' IN oiiC | ar vi LOW Ii, SdDt IlON Gil Il
nakinga speech to crowd of Ants in
another place. All the reporters of the
Constitution, with the exception of Col
" hldly, are on the wet side, and the paper
publishes both sides. A few nights ago Mr.
Grady spoke IN favor of Prohibition. Some
days previous Col. Howell published in the
Constitution article containing stats
Tics ito show that in the States where
prohibition legislation has been tried il
has failed Ia promote the cause of temper
"nce or prevent the sale of liquor"
The CHRONICLE believes in giving both
sides a hearing
The Anti Side.
Col Howell says that ''eleven of the
fourteen States which attempted prohibit
ton, during the first prevalence of that
craze III this country, abandoned it after
a shorter or longer trial" Col Howell
'yS: The reasons given in every State
where the law has been repealed were: l.
II was impracticable. :. 1t created dissen-
sion among the people. ,. 1t increased
perjury and hypocrlcy- t. 1t built up a
class OF worthless spies and infOrmers, and
did not decrease the number Of drunkards
iIoi Tie hiHOuIt vi COISulilel-
After commenting upon the effect of
prohibition on the crime in the Statea
whore it has been practiced, Col. Howell
closes his paper as follows:
The present law is unreasonable un-
ust and oppressive. 1t is worse than the
tw voted on TWO years ago. because under
lat law our churches could buy wine for
>cramental purposes, but under the law
ait now stauds, our churches will have
ttseud 10 Griffin for wine for that purpose
Or sick who require it will have to 5, nd
10 .rltfin or some other city for wine or
iIqLr. and the drunkard Will get it here
IN tn city. Such law will not stand it
Is bond to fall, and it is far better for
conservative men to band together to pro-
tect safety by enacting wise laws that Will
stand le test of time; laws that will APP
peal to he reason of a man and can be en-
forced Foolish and unjust laws bring the
law lnt":isrepute; creates a disregard for
law. anCencourages anarchy and strife
dissatisfaction and distrust.
hno families in this city that have
tried faithfully to enforce prohibition in
thelr famleS for twenty years they have
tailed. Is. light for them to ask the city
to do What7as impossible for them to ac-
complish w,n they had parental author
ity to enfore their ideas? If we treat our
people as bres we may expect them to
be brutlsh We appeal to their reason
they Will be nsonab.e men. Many good
men claim thi they vote for prohibition
to remove tn temptation from young
men. What aad reflection this is on the
teachings of tn Bible. This Holy Book
teaches III llvlnletters the lesson of self
, denial, and yet propose to wipe it out
with pHny Ac of the Legislature and
substitute tor 1t ate denial. \ man who
won drink llquosimply because he can
not get 1t Is no bter than man who
drinks 100 much Ven he can get it. A
man can be more sely trusted who will
not drink too mucwhen he can get it
than one who will gtdrunk whenever he
gets where il is.
"!he men VINO voteOr this law take a
great responsibility u,n themselves. If
! 1t Goes NOT 1all 1t Is tn first one that has
succeeded. All these ws have brought
tram OF evil, perjury, trife, hypocrisy,
revllngs and vlolationse law. We know
!, what it has done for thehort time it has
,, been here, and this is b a repetition in
every place it has heen led. And for
this reason | am not willinto try it again.
am willing to DIN my fe,w citizens in
framing a law that will htect society
from the evils of intemperae-but this
, law will hot.
The Prohibition Si,.
Mr.. Grady attended a Prohtion meet
ing and was called on to speak 1t was a
: very strong presentation of his le brist-
! ling with telling points. The blowing
is the report of his speech:
Mr.. Grady made two points Il took
them for his text, to-wit
uelle.e sha, prohibition should, tried
for two years longer.
First, because it has not had f and
fair trial
Secoud, because this trial, impfect
and brief as it has been, is demOns,b ,ble
success. Applause.
u Mr.. Grady insisted that prohibition as
! not had fair trial in Atlanta. He s1
Now, has prohibition had fair trian
e Atlanta? 1t was passed by q bare maj
itv it was two months before that maj
Is ity Was legally declared; there we
= licenses extending about ten months
p nearly one-half of its probation; there W
organized resistance to its entOrcemel
a+ every step that was taken was expe
mental; there was not a door closed 4
fine enforced and collected except
slow process of law. Every defence "
exhausted. and the cause had to fight vi
new machinery, with undisciplined fore
and with half of its time consumed w